Van Gaal spent £150m in the summer, including a British record £59.7m on Angel Di Maria, but still trail Chelsea by 11 points in the Premier League.

Now United a rumoured to be taking considerable interest in the likes of Roma’s Kevin Strootman, Borussia Dortmund’s Mats Hummels and Diego Godin of Atletico Madrid.

However, Ed Woodward has already said that though there may not be any “short term fixes” in the new year, the majority of their targets will be for next summer.

“We have targets we are looking at for next summer,” he said.

“Should any of them become available in January, which is obviously rare, we will consider acting. But it is a low probability.”

But with fourth-placed United targeting a spot in next season’s Champions League and with their commercial arm continuing to raise huge sums, Van Gaal has been told he can eclipse last summer’s spending.